asked the Minister for Education if she has issued any directive in recent times to national school teachers instructing them not to place any children for a second year in the same class irrespective of their progress; if she will give details of same; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Directive to Teachers.
151.
My Department have not issued a directive of the type described by the Deputy. Circular 10/67, which originally issued in March 1967, was recently re-issued to national schools. In relation to the promotion of pupils, it states "The normal procedure should be that a pupil is promoted to a higher standard at the end of each school year. There may be cases, however, where the principal teacher feels that a pupil would benefit educationally by being held back for a second year in a class. In regard to such cases it is felt that by reference to educational principles they should be minimal; that no pupil should be held back for longer than one year throughout his/her national school career, and that usually the retention of a pupil in a class for a second year should take place only in the third or fourth standard."